GET UPDATES IN YOUR INBOX! Subscribe to our SPAM-free updates here:

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Postcard Thursday: "Saving Place"

This idealized postcard view of Penn Station was published in 1908, two years before the station opened.

This past Sunday, April 19, marked the 50th anniversary of the passage of the New York City Landmarks law and to celebrate, the Museum of the City of New York has launched a new exhibition, “Saving Place.”

While the exhibit covers the history of preservation in the city from the 19th century onward, it’s hard to get excited about it. The layout is cramped, the photographs on display are generally very small, and equal emphasis is given to every battle, large or small. That’s not to say that there aren't some intriguing artifacts in the show, including the lone remaining piece of a cast-iron building by James Bogardus that was stolen from a storage lot in the 1970s. (James is writing about the building for an upcoming piece for Curbed, so keep an eye open for it.) But overall, the feeling is cramped -- even though the show is in the big room on the ground floor.

One major annoyance at the show is the volume of the videos, which run on a repeating loop and create a cacophony of sound that makes it hard to concentrate. After you've heard Isaac Stern talk about the saving of Carnegie Hall two dozen times--and you've only been inside the exhibit for 5 minutes--you may have the urge to run away. If you're keenly interested in the history of preservation in the city, it is still worth the price of admission (which, at MCNY, is always a suggested fee); others should probably not make the effort.

Out Now! Footprints in New York

Available at Bookstores Everywhere:

"Footprints in New York has some of the sharpest, most informative meditations on the history of the city that I have encountered in a long time." — Edwin G. Burrows, co-author of Gotham and author of Forgotten Patriots.